Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Şâ‘iriñ ḫandesi rûyinde ġamı bâldedir
Ḫâmeniñ cilvesi ẓâhirde ḫamı nâldedir
In English
1. The poet's smile is on his face, but his grief is in his heart; the pen's grace is in what appears (its writing), but its bend is in its reed.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The couplet is taken from the single couplets at the end of the divan. A müfred is a self-contained single couplet regarded as a poem on its own. According to Öntürk and Tunçadam, the divan contains thirty-one single couplets, most of them in Turkish; two of them are given as samples in the article. The two lines of the couplet rhyme in "-ldedir" (bâldedir, nâldedir). The edition does not give the metre.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The couplet draws a comparison between the poet and the pen. The poet shows a smiling face to the world and hides his grief inside; the pen too shows an elegant grace in its writing, but its curve, its bend, lies in the unseen body of its reed. The word "bâl" is used in the sense of heart, the inner self; "nâl" refers to the reed of the pen. The two lines correspond closely in sound and structure: the words "ḫande" (smile) and "ḫâme" (pen), "ġam" (grief) and "ḫam" (bend), "bâl" and "nâl" are set opposite each other with similar sounds. This play of sound is the real subtlety of the couplet. The reading of "bâl" and "nâl" in these senses is ours; the edition does not give the meaning of the couplet.
Historical Context
When the couplet was written is unknown. Öntürk and Tunçadam say that a pessimistic mood shows itself in Âkif's ghazals; the image of the poet who smiles outside and grieves inside agrees with this reading. For the poet's life, see the article Îdîzâde Âkif Mustafa Efendi.
Bibliography
- Tolga Öntürk and Özcan Tunçadam, "Amasyalı 'Îdî-zâde Âkif Mustafa ve Divanı", Hikmet-Akademik Edebiyat Dergisi, 6(12), 2020, pp. 259-281 (text: pp. 280). https://doi.org/10.28981/hikmet.683811
Online sources
